Deutsche Post DHL's transformation is bearing fruit, its CEO told CNBC on Wednesday, with the group delivering earnings "as expected".
Deutsche Post, known globally for its express delivery unit DHL, said earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) reached 957 million euros ($105 million) in the fourth quarter, against the average analyst expectation in a Reuters poll for 943 million ($103 million).
CEO Frank Appel said he was "very pleased" with the company's fourth quarter results.
"We've said since the beginning of 2015 that this would be a year of transformation and we were in full transformation… We had the best quarter ever in the fourth quarter so that shows that our measures are getting traction," said Frank Appel.
"We are very happy with the end of the year."
Appel also addressed the rumors circulating that Deutsche Post was looking to sell its freight unit.
"We never talked to anybody, we are not talking to anybody and we will not talk to anybody because we are very confident that the forwarding business will be a key part of our strategy," Appel said.
"We had a very strong fourth quarter, it was the first quarter in three years since we had an improvement year-over-year so that shows that the turn-around is in full-swing and we are heading in the right direction," said Appel to CNBC.
Explaining why holding onto the freight forwarding business is a key part of Deutsche Post's strategy, Appel told CNBC:
"We are the market leader in air freight and second in ocean freight, we have a very strong management team and I think these are the ingredients for being successful."
Appel added that he did not know where the rumor had started but that it was "just wrong."
In a release on its website, Deutsche Post confirmed its 2016 EBIT forecast of between 3.4 billion euros ($3.7 billion) and 3.7 billion euros ($4 billion).
The group also maintains its targets beyond 2016 and forecasts an increase in operating profit by an average of more than 8 percent annually during the period from 2013 to 2020.